Fantastic Bridge in China

This bridge in Tianjin, China has a 35-story high observation wheel called the "Eye of Tianjin." It looks like you'd have a long ride just to load and unload all those compartments! I think this would be lots of fun.

Welcome March!

It doesn't look like this yet in my part of the world, but I'm ready! I spent today working on my quilt room. Not quilting, but going through boxes and organizing things. I'll show some photos soon. I found a surprising quantity of quilt tops. Maybe it's time to turn them into quilts.

Goodbye February!

I was out doing errands one evening last week and had to stop and take this picture to show you. Isn't this snow pile amazing? I wonder how long it will take to melt.

The Bloomin' 9-Patch

See the beautiful "Bloomin' Nine-Patch" quilt photos on the Quilt Inspiration blog. They're based the book above, Radiant Sunshine and Shadow by Helen Frost and Catherine Skow. Isn't this quilt stunning? I love how it glows. And it's just 9-patch and one-patch blocks! Granted, there are a lot of them. The quilts done with printed fabrics have a very different look. Oh I'm liking this.

Peter Pan and Tinkerbell Giveaway

If you're a fan of Peter Pan and Tinkerbell, you'll want to leave a comment to enter the random giveaway for these two fat quarters. I really like the fabric on the left. Maybe it's the influence of selvages, but fabric with words on it really appeals to me. The Tinkerbell fabric, well...I chose it because I like the green, but I'm more the Tammy-doll type than the Barbie-doll type. Know what I'm sayin'?

The winner of the Dr. Seuss fabrics is Nancy of the Patchwork Penguin blog in PA.

The winner of the Pink Lollipops and Eliz's Letters is Jodi of the Come Tarry With Me blog in RI. See what's on her design wall now. Oh, my!

Contest: Design a Baby Boy Print!

Have you heard about the Project Selvage contest held by Michael Miller Fabrics and Spoonflower to find their next new fabric designer? The challenge is to come up with a baby boy print. The last day to submit your design is March 24, 2011. My "gears" are turning already.

Thank you to Sharyn Mallow Woerz who sent us a link to this!

Membership Giveaway for The Quilt Show - 3 Winners!

Have you seen Alex Anderson's and Ricky Tims' "The Quilt Show?" You will love their videos. They have inspired millions of quilters over the years and they are the nicest people too.

Quilter and Selvage Blog friend JoAnne from Diamond Bar, CA had the idea to give some TQS programs to Selvage Blog readers. When she called Alex's husband he said, "Let's make it three 6-month memberships!" That's generous! "Thanks" JoAnne, and "Thanks" Mr. Alex!

Just leave a comment to enter. Tell us who taught you how to quilt.

The photo above is from the Library Gal Quilts blog.

Belinda's Selvage Purse

Belinda of Sydney, Australia created this selvage coin purse and she's offering it for sale for $20 in her Etsy store called Seventh Sphere. There you'll see many more handbags in her fresh, modern fabrics and beautiful workmanship. It's definitely worth a visit.

Check out the selvage with the Chinese writing (above). The Heather Bailey selvage looks distinctive too, like everything else Heather does. I like the zig-zag stitch done with variegated thread too. Nice job, Belinda!

Nancy's Selvage Circles Quilt

This stunning Selvage Circles queen-size quilt was made by Nancy and she lives in nearby Warren, CT! I have to meet this lady who is making selvage quilts fifteen minutes from my house. Look at the awesome curves in this quilt! It's offered for sale in her Etsy store for $700. She also makes handbags. Nancy loves bright colors and unexpected color combinations, and she has so many ideas for things to make she hardly knows where to start. We hear you Nancy.

Selvage Bunny on Etsy

This 14" tall selvage bunny was made by Bungalow Quilts in Ohio and it's for sale on Etsy for $80. She says that she cut the pieces out of muslin, covered them with selvages and stuffed it with poly fiberfill. What a beautiful job she did! There's also a selvage teddy bear and more bunnies and quilts to see in her Etsy store.

Have a creative day!

Pink Fat Quarter Giveaway

You know the story: I wanted some fat quarters for my scrap quilts but the minimum cut was 1/2 yard. So here's the other half in a giveaway. Just leave a comment. The fabric on the left is "Elizabeth's Letters" from Henry Glass. On the right is "Sweet Stuff" by Luana Rubin for Robert Kaufman. Aren't they pretty?

The winner is Jodi from Rhode Island and the Come Tarry With Me blog.

Selvage Hearts from Club Aloha

Club Aloha from California has an Etsy shop with beautiful handmade quilts and fabric items including these tea towels embellished with machine appliquéd selvage hearts. You can see two towels in the photo above. She'll even customize the hearts with colors to go with your kitchen. Aren't they pretty? I like all the dots. Take a look at the artistic fabric choices in this stunning quilt. So much creativity out there!

Dr. Seuss Fabric Giveaway

What novelty scrap quilt couldn't use some Dr. Seuss characters? Again, I just wanted fat quarters but had to buy the minimum half-yard cut, so I'm sharing the other half in a random giveaway. Just leave a comment and you may be the lucky winner.

Just so you know, that yellow background is bright school bus yellow! Btw, do you like green eggs and ham?

The winner is Nancy in PA of the Patchwork Penguin blog.

Dress a Girl Around the World

The organization called Dress a Girl Around the World asks you to imagine a world where every little girl has at least one dress. They have already given over 12,000 dresses in 37 countries! Can you imagine? I found out about this when Suzanne signed up to follow this blog and I clicked on her thumbnail over there in the sidebar! See her blog called Sew Delightful to learn more about this exciting project.

Suzanne is packing a box of 120 dresses to send, including these dresses above that were made using fabrics donated by SisBoom. (SisBoom fabric is seriously gorgeous!) Many dresses are made from pillowcases so the hems are already done. What a sweet idea!

BOM Tile Quilt - Giveaway Winner Announced

The Empire Quilters guild Block of the Month a few months ago was a raw-edge applique tile block. Pauline Hazard won the blocks and here she is with her finished quilt. Her 11 year-old granddaughter loves this quilt, so of course it belongs to her now. The backing is a soft cuddly flannel fabric. You can see that Pauline added two borders along the outer edge. Terrific job Pauline!

The winner of the Mickey and Minnie fat quarters is Christine of the Once Upon a Quilt blog in Queensland, Australia! She'll use them to make something for Sophie, her little grand-daughter, so Sophie is really the winner. :)

More giveaways coming soon.

Mickey and Minnie Fat Quarter Giveaway

Two fat quarters of Mickey and Minnie fabrics will be given away to one lucky reader who leaves a comment. (Winner chosen at random, as usual.) I only need fat quarters, but the minimum cut on eQuilter is 1/2 yard, so you get the other half. I like these novelty prints because they don't look like they have to go into a toddler quilt; they're cartoons for grown-ups. Haha. I'm going to use these in scrap quilts. Minnie is about 3 inches tall and Mickey is a smidgen taller.

Giveaway just closed. The winner is Christine from Queensland, Australia!

Valentine's Day Eye Candy

Here are some fabulous red quilts for you to enjoy on Valentine's Day. Have a great one!

This amazing "Vortex" quilt from 1900 by an unidentified quilter is part of a huge exhibit of red and white quilts starting March 25th arranged by the American Folk Art Museum. I plan to be there, so if they allow photos at the exhibit, I'll show you a bunch.

The quilt above is "Red Lightning" by Nifty Quilts, one of my favorite quilt bloggers.

This quilt is "Symphony in Red" by Mike470 from The Quilt Show.

The quilt above is from Crazy Baby Quilts. A baby quilt?

This colorful quilt is by Leslie J. Riley. It looks like it would be fun to make one of these.

Textbooks and Zippers

Yesterday was our Empire Quilter's guild meeting at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. They have a Barnes and Noble/school bookstore on campus and I stopped in before the meeting to have a look around. This is what you see when you check out, a beautiful display of zippers! I majored in Finance at UConn in the early seventies and I never knew that anyone was having this much fun in college!

Flag Quilt: Color or No Color?

Adding some bright prints to the solid scraps from recent projects, I made this top that really appeals to me. I loved making this, no "over-thinking," it just flowed and delighted me each step of the way. It will have a green print binding (like the outermost border). I particularly like it that some areas are high contrast and some are low contrast.

The photo above shows a close-up of the center. The printed fabric borders add a little peace to the scene, preventing the pieced borders from jumbling together. Although I do love the Anna Williams style, and the joyously busy intuition quilt that Sujata is making right now.


It's interesting to see this quilt in black and white, and sepia. When we used to live near New York City, there was ambient light in our apartment at night (even though we lived on the 18th floor!) and I used to take a look at my quilts on the design wall during the night. Checking on them like babies, haha. In the low light, I couldn't really see the colors, just the values. With this insight, I'd usually make a few adjustments before going back to sleep, then having sweet quilty dreams.

Quilts for Alzheimer's Patients

Jeffree Itrich at the University of California San Diego is spearheading a project to give lap-sized quilts to Alzheimer's research study patients throughout the USA. So far she has collected 600 quilts and she has recipients for a lot more! Jeffree lost her mom to severe dementia, and she says this project really warms her heart. Can you tell from the photo? She's a quilter too.

If you want to read more about this project, or to donate a quilt, click here. Another good article about the project can be found here.

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Take a look at Nancy's wonderful selvage quilts on her Flickr page. And what a treasure trove of quilty inspiration her page is! Nancy lives in PA so you know she's enjoying some good quilting weather.

Bari's New Selvage Twister

Bari of Springfield, MO made this pretty blue "Lil Twister." Take a look at her blog to see more. She adapted Jackie's tutorial to make this selvage version. Jackie's quilt was made using silk dupioni. I actually watched her making it when I visited recently, and I was astonished to see how it went together. Nice job Bari and Jackie!

Selvage Potholder

Heather Louise of the How Do You Do This Again? blog in Colorado (you know, Lily Bear's mom) is doing a project a week in 2011, and this is her latest, a potholder that she's entering in a contest at Prudent Baby, a DIY website for crafty moms. Nice job, Heather!

Oh yeah, she also says she's developing a selvage addiction; what does she mean?

Selvage Snowman Quilt by Riel Nason in Canada

Riel Nason in New Brunswick, Canada made this big snowman quilt using over 700 selvages! Even the snowflakes are made from selvages. Isn't it awesome? She has lots of close up photos (including a tutorial about making those snowflakes) on her blog: The Q and the U. Bravo!

The snowman in this photo is 20 feet tall!

Curious Irony

This quilt was auctioned on eBay a while back and I saved the photo because it's the type of improvisational quilt that really speaks to me. I love the wheel effect, the embroidered circles in the center of the wheels, the funny-shaped applique bits, and that garish "number two pencil" gold. Like cheddar, but brighter. It looks good next to black (and it doesn't say "Halloween" to me).

I think this quilt would look stunning as a wall quilt displayed with antiques. Maybe in a modern setting as well. I wouldn't want it on my bed though. It would feel alien, ikky even. Now what's with that? If you have any insight on this curious irony, please comment.

Note: See June Calender's comment. She hit the nail on the head.

How Do You Pin?

This is how I learned to pin when I was 10 years old (above). The problem with this is that sometimes I'd hit the pin with the needle, and that can really mess up the machine.

Recently I visited Jackie of CV Quiltworks and noticed that she pins like this (above). She probably removes the pin before sewing over it.

Now I pin like this. It works just as well, and I don't hit the pin. Why didn't I think of that years ago? How do you pin? Pin pointing to the right, pointing to the left, pointing forward like me, or some other way?

Another Top is Finished

Here it is! The center block was made quickly and improvisationally, using scraps (including some tiny ones retrieved from the waste basket) with no objective in mind. Separately I was making these rows of coins (or piano keys), for a strippy style quilt. But this is what evolved instead. And I like it. It's photographed on the snow, an idea I got recently from Victoria at Bumblebeans. We're trying to add a little color to the outdoors.

The photo below shows the back side. You can see that the little triangles were sewn on top of the ecru rectangles, a quick method that gives slightly wonky results. The coins are cut at 1" x 3" (finished at 1/2" x 2 1/2.") The top measures 38"wide x 40" long.

I'm thinking of calling this quilt "Sharp Focus" but I'm not sure. The binding will be made from ecru to keep the light, airy feeling. I'm already on to the next one, adding some prints to the mix this time. Yeah, I'm accumulating some ufo's but that's okay. No angst about that for me:)